Real median income is projected to grow by around 5.1% between 2015-16 and 2021-22. However, this may turn out to be optimistic.

Inequality is projected to rise between 2015-16 and 2021-22, as working age benefits are cut and real earnings growth boosts the income of higher income households.

At the UK level, absolute poverty is projected to remain roughly unchanged between 2015-16 and 2021-22. Absolute child poverty is projected to rise by 4.1 percentage points, primarily due to the impact of planned changes to working-age benefits.

Absolute poverty is projected to fall in the South, the East, Yorkshire and Scotland, but rise in the North East, North West, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Midlands.

Those regions where low-income families are less reliant upon earnings (and therefore more reliant upon benefits) are projected to see a larger increase in absolute poverty.

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FindingsLiving standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2017-18 to 2021-22 (198.85 KB)

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The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an independent social change organisation working to solve UK poverty. Uniquely, we also run a housing association and care provider, the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.